Trail of Tears
by DarkMoon2
Summary: This is the story of a young woman named Fiora, whose not-so-mysterious, but unfinished past leads her to Dart and his friends. *Chapter Two now up!*
1. The Arrival

Trail of Tears -- written by DarkMoon   
Chapter 1-- The Arrival  
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Note: Chapters will go up sooner on my site (accessible through my user profile) than they will here. Chapter 2 is up already there, for example.  
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A year after the defeat of Melbu Frahma, things were finally settling down again. Most of the Winglies had come out of hiding; a lot of them were helping with the reconstruction of the Crystal Palace in Deningrad. Serdio had become a single, unified country again and the entire continent of Endiness was at peace. Well, most of it . . .   
  
Dart sighed heavily. Glancing up from his late night chess game with Haschel, he could see that Albert and Miranda were still arguing. It had started as a simple discussion about politics, which, as they already knew, was a very bad thing to talk about with Albert around. The reasonably polite conversation had quickly deteriorated into the argument that was still going on. Dart, who had been trying to spend some time with a long-abandoned novel, had kicked the two of them out onto the balcony, so that there could at least be a set of doors (though only glass) between them and the rest of the castle.   
  
"So how long has it been now?" he asked his friend, capturing Haschel's bishop. "You're in check, by the way."   
  
"Almost two hours," Haschel said, moving his king out of danger. "Two hours of circular logic and pointless bickering. You'd think their voices would have given out by now."   
  
Dart snorted. "Not likely. Albert's the king of long discussions, and Miranda yells all the time. They're perfect for this." He looked up as the hum of voices from the balcony stopped abruptly.   
  
"Thank Soa! It's about time they stopped," Shana said from her place on a sofa nearby, where she'd been dozing with a pillow over her head for the past hour.   
  
"Have you two been arguing about politics this whole time?" Haschel asked as the balcony doors banged open.   
  
"We veered off track for a few minutes to squabble about who's country is best ruled," said Albert, who looked frazzled and worn out. "But otherwise, yes." He glared as Miranda stalked past him, most likely headed for her room. She threw a disdainful look over her shoulder before slamming the door behind her. Albert sighed and slumped down in an overstuffed armchair next to the chess table.   
  
"She hasn't argued with any of us in a long time," Shana said quietly. "Not since Rose . . ." She trailed off. A hushed silence filled the room. The last time Miranda had gotten really mad at anybody was in the Death Frontier with Rose. That seemed like ages ago.   
  
"You guys are still up?!?" a female voice asked incredulously. They all jumped. Meru was standing in the doorway through which Miranda had left, pillow clutched under one arm and a sleepy expression on her face. She had gone to bed shortly after the fight had begun, wishing to avoid a cranky Miranda.   
  
"Yes, unfortunately," Albert sighed. "But not for long. I'm going to bed. See you all in the morning." A chorus of mumbled and decidedly mopey 'good nights' followed him out of the room. As the others left the room one by one, snow started to fall outside. A muffled stillness fell over the castle, and a lone figure approached the city. ******************************************************************************  
The next morning, a thick blanket of snow had fallen. Meru was up before dawn, bundled up in multiple layers of clothing. She ambushed Albert in the hallway as he came out of his room for breakfast and tried to make him go outside with her. He politely declined and told her to go find Haschel. This she did, dragging not only Haschel, but Kongol and Shana as well, outside for a snowball fight, which Kongol won easily. Things settled down again around lunchtime, except for when Miranda finally showed up. There was a tense silence as she and Albert glared at each other, but she was apparently dealing with their argument by giving him the silent treatment.   
  
They were in the middle of lunch when a group of puzzled-looking guards trooped in. They appeared to be surrounding someone.  
  
"Majesty, we found this woman trying to climb over the castle wall. And, um . . ." the guard trailed off.  
  
"Yes?" Albert prompted.  
  
"We, um, we can't take her weapons from her. Sir."  
  
Albert opened his mouth to ask why when a snort came from within the circle of guards.  
  
"There's a good reason for that. And if you think I'm going to tell any of you why, you've got another thing coming," a derisive female voice said. Dart frowned. He'd heard that voice somewhere before . . . Albert's forehead crinkled in thought for a moment, then he waved a hand at the guards. They all bowed simultaneously and left the room.  
  
Their first impression was an understanding of why the guards had been so baffled. The second impression was that the woman in front of them was a ghost. The puzzlement was explained by the fact that she was wearing loose-fitting, lightweight pants and a cropped tank top even though it was just barely above freezing outside. As for the weapons situation, they could see two sword handles sticking up over her shoulders, but they appeared to not be attached to anything but her back. And the rest of her appearance. . .  
  
Mouths fell open throughout the room. The young woman in front of them looked exactly like Rose. She was tall and had long black hair pulled back in a loose braid that fell past waist level. Dart looked closer. She. . . she had the same eyes as him. He gaped speechlessly for a minute as she stood and innocently smiled at him, then he stammered, "You. . . you have the. . . s- same eyes as m- me."  
  
"There's a good reason for that too, but I think I'll explain later. You're Dart, aren't you?" Striding past him, she sat down in an empty chair next to Shana, who shied away from her slightly. Dart nodded wordlessly, his mouth still open.  
  
"Forgive me for asking what you may feel is a silly question," Albert said after a moment, "but who are you?"  
  
She smiled again. "That's not silly at all. I wouldn't expect you to know who I am, as we've never met before."  
  
Meru, who seemed to have finally found her voice, piped up. "Then how do you know who Dart is?"  
  
"Charle Frahma told me about him. I've been trailing him for some time now, but he keeps managing to evade me at the last minute. I would have been here sooner, but the snow caused a bit of a delay. And in answer to your question," she said, nodding at Albert, "my name is Fiora."  
  
Dart blinked. When he spoke, his voice seemed to have stabilized. "How long have you been following me?"  
  
"You specifically? Only about a year, but I'd been following you and your companions since you left Ulara. I've only been a couple of days behind you since then." More silence followed this announcement. Fiora sighed. "I don't know what to do for you people. Most of what I have to say will be just as startling to you as what I've already said."  
  
"Dart may have a seizure or something if you keep it up," Albert said dryly. Fiora ignored this, and turned to Dart.  
  
"We're siblings."   
  
Dart's mouth fell open again.  
  
"Well," Fiora corrected herself, "half-siblings, anyway."  
  
"B- But. . . who?" Dart stammered.  
  
"Zieg." Fiora raised an eyebrow as several confused and slightly suspicious 'Oh' looks flitted around the room. "What?"  
  
"How old are you?" Haschel queried.  
  
She grinned. "Older than you. Older than all of you put together. Only about two and a half decades younger than--" She swallowed hard. "--Rose was."  
  
"So she was. . ." Albert trailed off as Fiora's eyes took on a haunted look. "When?"  
  
"A few months after the Dragon Campaign ended," she said, a slight catch in her throat. "But she'd already agreed to take on the task of immortality and the Black Monster, so she left me in Ulara with Charle." She paused. "I've had this-" she said, putting a hand to her throat where she wore a choker similar to the one Rose had had, "-ever since I reached the age I appear to be. Charle knew I'd want to try and find Rose."  
  
"So you've spent most of the ten thousand odd years you've been alive looking for Rose?" Albert asked. "That seems like it would be awfully boring."  
  
Fiora gave a wry grin. "It was. Charle gave me the job of Chronicler in Ulara, so I've been spending a lot of my time just observing, questioning, writing. . ." She smiled and shook her head a little. "As a result, Ulara has a more complete history of Endiness than anyone else. This city, for example, has changed less than any of the other 'big' cities, except maybe Ulara. I've been here a good hundred times, at least."  
  
Albert nodded. "I believe that. About the only thing that has changed is the castle."  
  
"Which is about four times larger than it was the first time I came here," Fiora said, grinning. "You just have to keep adding rooms for your books, don't you?"  
  
Albert grinned back. Things became much more relaxed after that; Dart found his voice again, and once Shana had been thoroughly convinced that Fiora was not, in fact, Rose back from the dead to kill her, she engaged in the conversation too. They all took turns asking Fiora about all sorts of things, and kept talking well past sunset, when another visitor arrived.  
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Author's notes: I just want to give kudos to my mom, who helped me edit this chapter. She caught stuff I had missed, and helped make Albert sound more like he should (like a scholarly, well-educated king, as opposed to somebody like Dart.) She also noticed that the argument in the beginning closely parallels the ones that occur in our house. ^_^ 


	2. Wingly Logic and More Adventuring

Trail of Tears -- written by DarkMoon  
Chapter 2-- Wingly Logic and More Adventuring  
  
As a clock somewhere chimed 6 'o clock, two guards came in. Fiora was deep in conversation with Dart and Haschel, but Albert inclined his head towards the guards, both of whom were looking very surly.  
  
"You have something to report?" he asked them. One of them nodded curtly and stepped forward.  
  
"There's another person who presumably wants to see one of you," he said, gesturing at all of them.  
  
"Why presumably?" Dart asked, pausing in his conversation with Fiora.  
  
The guard looked embarrassed. "Well, that's the funny thing. This one's even stranger than her," he said, nodding in Fiora's direction. She narrowed her eyes, but didn't say anything. The guard continued. "He won't talk, for one thing. We asked him what he wanted, but he didn't respond. And he's got a funny feeling about him, like he's radiating energy."  
  
Fiora glanced at Meru briefly, then stood up. "He's a friend of mine, and I'd advise you not to question him too much. Strictly speaking, he's not a 'people person.'" The guard stared at her as if this statement made the both of them that much stranger.  
  
Albert rolled his eyes. "Well, you heard the lady. Send him in." The guard blinked, nodded once, and left the room, followed closely by the other guard. They came back a few minutes later, marching a cloaked man between them like a captured prison escapee. Fiora's face split into a wide grin when she saw him. The guards seemed to interpret this as a bad sign; each gave ashort bow and practically ran from the room.  
  
"Albert, you really should try to find some braver people to guard your castle," Fiora said, moving forward to stand in front of the newcomer. "Alright 'Sri, you don't have to hide anymore. Actually, you didn't have to in the first place. See, she isn't hiding," she said, jerking a thumb back over her shoulder at Meru. The cloaked figure turned slightly to look at the petite girl, and then raised a hand and pulled the hood of the cloak back. Eyebrows raised all over the room as the cloaked man was revealed to be a Wingly. The guard had been right; he was stranger than Fiora. His muteness was explained by a long, jagged scar running across his throat, a reminder of some battle fought long ago. He was dressed in plain traveling clothes, and carried no visible weapons, but had two large bags slung over his shoulders. As he handed one of these to Fiora, he narrowed his eyes at everyone, as if daring them to comment on his appearance. Using his free hand, he said something in what was very obviously sign language to Fiora.  
  
"Well, what? What did I do?" she asked, her hands on her hips. The Wingly started to sign something else, but she interrupted him again. "And don't you dare say that I left you behind, 'cause I didn't."  
  
The Wingly raised an eyebrow and "spoke" for about a minute. When he finished, he was smirking.  
  
"Well, you got me there. But-" she said, holding up a hand to stop the Wingly from talking again, "that doesn't mean I agree with you."  
  
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to really say something, but closed it again as Fiora hugged him around the middle. She let go of him and turned to the others with an arm around the Wingly's waist.  
  
"Guys, this is Aasrin. He's been my best friend and constant companion since I was born," she said. Aasrin signed something to her and she blushed. "Shut up, you. That was a long time ago."  
  
Albert grinned. "Pleased to meet you. Any friend of Fiora's is a friend of ours," he said, standing up and shaking hands with Aasrin, who seemed to know who he was dealing with.  
  
Fiora snorted. "You may not say that after you've gotten to know him. But, then again, he may be a complete angel around you guys. I never really know what to expect."  
  
Aasrin glared at her, then suddenly let out a tremendous yawn. Blinking hard, he spoke to Fiora, who nodded.  
  
"I'm gonna take him to my room. He's been traveling for almost a week now. I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, grabbing his arm and leading him out of the room.  
  
Dart sighed. "Great. Looks like life's going get exciting again."  
  
Shana swatted him on the arm. "Don't be rude. He looks like a perfectly nice person to me."  
  
He coughed loudly, disguising something that sounded suspiciously like 'Lloyd'. Shana shook her head at him.  
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Fiora found them again about half an hour later. She was looking grumpy because they had moved to another room without telling her. She strode into the library after asking a passing knight where they had gone, and plopped down in a chair by the fireplace.  
  
"That was more than a few minutes," Dart said, laughter barely disguised in his voice. Fiora stared at him for a minute with narrowed eyes, then snatched a pillow from the chair next to her and threw it at him.  
  
"That would be because somebody decided to pack up and move while I was gone," she said, glaring. Dart grinned at her.  
  
"It was getting too cold in the other room," Albert said, not looking up from the book he was reading. "We wanted to come somewhere with a fireplace." Fiora nodded.  
  
"That I can understand. But you could have left a guard or something so I'd know where you were."  
  
Albert turned a page in the book. "Yes, well--" He stopped suddenly and a puzzled expression crossed his face.  
  
"What?" Dart asked. Fiora stood up and went to stand behind Albert. Laying on top of the right-hand page of the book was a separate sheet of paper. It had two lines of something that looked like a poem, with an arrow pointing to the left followed by the word "tresed" and an arrow pointing up with the word "crystal" below it. Underneath all this were four words: "Behind the sacred tree."   
  
Albert regained his composure faster than Fiora did, and told the others what was on the sheet of paper while she continued to stare at it. Miranda, who had stopped giving Albert the silent treatment sometime after Fiora had arrived, looked intrigued.  
  
"What do the lines of poetry say?" she asked.  
  
"Building towers underground, passing life without a sound," Albert read. Fiora exhaled sharply and shivered as the energy flow of the room warped briefly.  
  
"What happened?" Dart asked, having seen her shudder.  
  
"You didn't feel that?" she asked, glancing once around the room as if something was hiding behind the many rows of books. He shook his head.  
  
"I sorta felt something," Meru piped up. "Like the energy in the room changed, right?"  
  
"Yeah," Fiora said, nodding. "Great. I bet it's a Wingly thing, whatever it is." Walking over and sitting back down in the chair she had vacated, she listened to the others try and make some sense of the rest of it.  
  
A few minutes later, Aasrin wandered in, looking disoriented. He signed to Fiora and she pointed at the table that everyone else was now sitting around.  
  
"He felt it too, Meru. It woke him up. I was right. It is a Wingly thing," she said, looking bothered by the idea. Aasrin went and looked over Meru's shoulder at the piece of paper. After digesting what it said for a minute, he turned around and spoke to Fiora, who chewed on her lip.  
  
"You may be right. Albert, try and make a different word out of the word by the arrow pointing to the left."  
  
Albert nodded in response and scribbled on a sheet of parchment under his right elbow. After a few minutes, punctuated by him muttering to himself, a look of comprehension appeared in his eyes.  
  
"Tresed. . . desert. . . I've got it! Tresed is desert spelled backwards!" he said, looking as if he'd found the answers to all of life's mysteries. Aasrin grinned and started speaking, his hands flying like lightning. Fiora translated, trying to keep up.  
  
"He thinks the arrows are map directions, and the words are. . . slow down, 'Sri!! The words are what we go to in that direction, so in theory, we would go west to the Death Frontier and then north to. . . where? Oh, I see, the Crystal Palace in Deningrad. But what about the rest, 'Sri?"  
  
Albert answered her before Aasrin could. "Well, if we're going to follow this trail, then we'll figure it out when we get there."  
  
Fiora stared. "Follow the. . . I'm surprised, Albert. I wouldn't think you'd want to go out adventuring again so soon."  
  
Dart sighed. "See, I was right too. Things are going to get interesting again."  
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Author's notes: When I started this chapter, I had absolutely no idea where the story was going. Then, suddenly, I had the idea for the poem and the trail, and now I have the plot for the whole story (more or less.) o_O It does have a mind of it's own, though. They weren't supposed to figure out what the clues meant that quickly. Stupid Winglies. . . Also, for anybody who was wondering, in the part where Aasrin says something to Fiora after she tells the others that "He's been my best friend and constant companion since I was born," he's most likely saying something like "Best friend? What about that one time we. . ." Heh. The whole concept's sorta like Chewbacca from Star Wars. 


	3. A Discovery is Made

Trail of Tears -- written by DarkMoon  
Chapter 3 -- A Discovery is Made  
  
"So what poem do you think the two lines are from?"  
  
They were all sprawled on a rocky formation in the field between Bale and the Limestone Caves, enjoying an unusual bit of warmth, the temperatures high enough to melt the snow for the first time all winter. Having gotten tired of watching Albert order people around (he was getting supplies together for the trip), they had all trekked out of the city and were presently pondering what the other clues could mean.  
  
"I don't know. It sounds familiar though," said Fiora, who was languidly draped over a point of rock that stuck out over the ground. She was on her stomach, with her arms and legs drooping over the sides, like a big cat.  
  
Dart, who had asked the question, sighed. "We should have asked Albert what he thought before we came out here. He probably knows."  
  
"Not if it's Wingly, he doesn't," Fiora said. "Does it sound familiar to either of you?" she asked, looking over at Aasrin, who was dozing against the rock, and Meru, who was lying with her head propped on her arms, watching a Roc circling over the southern edge of the field. Aasrin didn't move, and Meru made a vaguely negative noise.  
  
There was silence for a minute or two. Fiora joined Meru in watching the Roc over the field. From where they were, they could see the vague outline of something below the predatorial bird, moving slowly through the tall grass.  
  
Fiora was just starting to doze off in the warm sun when the Roc let out a piercing screech. Her head jerking up off her arms, she watched as it dove straight into the grass, attacking whatever was there. They all watched silently as the bird ripped at its prey -- or tried to. A second later, an ethereal cry came from the thing in the grass, making the hair on the back of Fiora's neck stand up. The Roc took off immediately, screeching its displeasure to the sky.  
  
"What in the name of Soa was THAT?" Miranda asked, standing up.  
  
"I think I know," Fiora said, also getting up,"and whatever it was, it did something to them. Look." She pointed at Meru and Aasrin, who were both breathing very fast and looking ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Walking over to them, she knelt down next to Aasrin.  
  
"It must be another Wingly thing," Dart said.  
  
"'Sri, what was it?" Fiora asked gently. Aasrin, staring blankly into space, twisted his hands together into a shape that looked like the head of --   
  
"A Dragon," Meru said quietly, her voice much higher pitched than usual. The others gaped at her.  
  
"That's kind of what I figured," Fiora said, rising. "I'm going to go find it. Dart, you want to come?"  
  
Dart closed his mouth and nodded. They climbed off the rocks and headed across the field toward the Caves. They had been walking for a few minutes when Fiora suddenly crouched, pulling Dart down with her.  
  
"Look," she whispered, pointing. Through the grass, the outline of a small red Dragon could be seen. Despite having run the Roc off so quickly, it was lying very still, as if injured.  
  
"It's a Psudo Dragon," Dart said. "I recognize it from when we were in the Moon."  
  
"Wow," Fiora breathed, "I've only seen them in paintings before. It must have come all the way from the Volcano Villude, judging by it's color. I didn't think there were any left in the world." Creeping low to the ground, she approached it, making a whistling noise that rose and fell like flute music. The Dragon let out an ungainly squawk and pulled itself to it's feet, stumbling towards Fiora.  
  
The others, with the exception of the two Winglies, joined them a few moments later. Fiora was sitting in the soggy grass with a lapful of Psudo Dragon.  
  
"That's incredible," Miranda said.  
  
"I know. I'm amazed it responded to me so quickly, considering I learned how to communicate with them from books and a teacher, not actual experience," Fiora said, scratching the base of the Dragon's left wing. It purred loudly. "So where are Meru and 'Sri?"  
  
"Meru took off for the castle," Shana said. "Aasrin was still on the rocks looking panicked when we headed over here."  
  
Fiora smiled. "Well, I figured out why it scared them so badly. That was a call that Dragons use to get rid of predators -- like this one did -- and flush prey out of hiding. It was usually the death sentence of Winglies during the Dragon Campaign."  
  
The others nodded as if in remembrance of something. Then Dart said, "Well, we should be getting back soon. I don't suppose we'll be able to get you to part with him, will we?"  
  
"Actually, it's a she, and no, you won't," Fiora said, standing up with the Dragon in her arms. "Come on, let's go."  
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When they got back to the castle, Fiora was moving quickly enough so that the guards couldn't see what she had in her arms. Dart suspected there was some magic involved as well, but didn't say anything.  
  
"Almost ready?" Albert asked as they walked in, not looking up from his work.  
  
"Yes. How are we going to get there?" asked Fiora, shifting the Dragon's weight from one hip to the other.  
  
"Well, I sent a messenger to the mayor in Donau so he knows that we're headed that way. If it all works out, we'll be taking a ship from there to Furni."  
  
Miranda frowned. "Not that I'm against the idea of getting to Deningrad sooner, but aren't we supposed to go through the Death Frontier?"  
  
"No, I think that was just a clue to try to throw us off track. Our goal is Deningrad. We should be -- " Albert looked up as the Dragon made a burbling noise. "Is that what I think it is?"  
  
"Yes indeed. A Roc tried to attack her out in the Long Meadow," Fiora said, beaming like a proud mother. Albert gazed at her thoughtfully, not seeming too terribly alarmed.  
  
"Well, that explains the panicked-looking Winglies that came charging in here about half an hour ago. I suppose she'll be coming with us?" Fiora nodded. "All right. Come with me. We can rig something to make it easier on you, at least."  
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Between the two of them, a harness was made that Fiora could wear on her shoulders that would neither keep her from her weapons nor be uncomfortable. The Dragon fit in it nicely, and seemed to like riding in it.  
  
"I think I'll call her Caliron," Fiora said as she took off the harness and lifted the Dragon out of it. "It means 'Firey One' in the old Wingly speech."  
  
"It suits her," Dart said, having come in before to help.  
  
Albert strode back in from the other room where he had gone to speak with one of the Knighthood. "We should turn in, if we're going to start out tomorrow." Fiora opened her mouth to say something but instead yawned widely.  
  
"Good idea," she said. "One last question though. How are we getting to Donau?"  
  
"Horses," Albert said. "They'll be going with us on the ship, too. That way we won't have to find some at the other end, should we need them."  
  
"Oh, we'll need them all right. I have a feeling Deningrad won't be the end of this," Fiora said.  
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Author's notes: Short, I know. But I needed to stop where I did so that the next chapter would be that much better. This was just a brief interlude to give me something fun to write about. Next up (next one or two chapters): the adventuring starts, problems at sea, and a delay in the forests of Mille Seseau. 


	4. The Journey Begins

Trail of Tears -- written by DarkMoon   
Chapter 4 -- The Journey Begins  
  
It was the grey hour before dawn when Albert made the rounds to wake everyone up. There was much incoherent muttering, but he pulled blankets off of huddled forms and opened curtains in all the rooms.  
  
Dart, who was one of the few who had the strength to keep his blankets, peered over the edge of it. Albert was standing there glaring at him, dressed in his old armour and green cape.  
  
"Are you planning on coming with us?" he asked. Dart mumbled sleepily. "Then get up, lazybones!"  
  
He got up. Most of the others seemed to be having the same problem as he, judging by the three-way collision in the hallway as Dart and Miranda came out of their respective rooms and a groggy and shivering Aasrin shuffled down the hall. The only ones who were welcoming the morning were Albert, Meru, being her usual self, and Fiora, who practically flew through breakfast.  
  
It was nine 'o clock when they finally gathered their belongings and saddled up. The majority of the party had never ridden before, so there was some awkwardness and much complaining. Kongol and Haschel had decided to stay for another day, then go back to Rogue, as they had planned before Fiora showed up.  
  
"Are we ready?" Albert asked from his perch atop a handsome chestnut stallion. The others nodded and made noises of consent. They were all on young warhorses of a smaller size than usual, except Meru, who rode a sturdy pony that also served as baggage-carrier.  
  
Fiora, astride a dapple-grey mare, shifted Caliron in her harness. "You've got the paper with the clues on it, right?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Well let's go then!" Kicking her horse into a trot, she took off, Dart and Aasrin not far behind. Miranda shook her head.  
  
"That's got to be Zieg's fault. Rose never behaved like that," she said, following the rest of the party at a walk. ***********************************************************  
The party set off towards the western border of Serdio, the sun and a chill wind at their backs. They made good time right up to the border, which was formed by a mountain range, with the Midlake at the north and the ocean at the south. Once there, the pace slowed as they picked their way through narrow ravines dusted with snow that went through the mountains.  
  
"I didn't even know you could get through this way," Shana said thoughtfully as they went single file down a particularly skinny gap. "The only way I've ever gone is through the gap further south near the Volcano."  
  
"That is the easier way," Albert agreed, "but we'd have to go south and then back north again to get to Donau. This is faster, though much harder."  
  
"This route didn't even exist until about a hundred years ago," Fiora said from her place at the front of the line. "One of the kings -- two or three generations back, I think -- got tired of having to go through the Bogs to get anywhere outside of his own country. That would have been your grandfather's time, correct?"  
  
Albert chuckled. "Oh, yes. Everybody else thought the idea was absurd, and he always was a bit crazy. You probably heard something about twenty years ago about him trying to stop the Volcano Villude erupting by going and waving his sword at it. That bit of news went from Seles to Deningrad, I swear."  
  
"Yes, I do remember that," Fiora said. There was silence amongst the group for a while, broken only by the occasional word from rider to horse. There was a slightly alarming moment when a Stinger from the Tiberoan side of the mountains shot out of a hole in the ravine wall right in front of the line of horses, spooking them and generally causing a great deal of chaos until Miranda loosed an arrow, pinning it against the far wall.  
  
Coming around a bend in the pass some time later, the group was blinded briefly by the setting sun. Donau was within sight, and Fiora and Albert, the unofficial leaders of the group, decided that it would be best if they camped outside the town. Finding a small grove of trees about a mile out, they stopped for the night, securing the horses and claiming sleeping spots. After a rather leisurely meal, they turned in, most going to sleep instantly. There was no snow on this side of the mountain pass, and it was a good twenty degrees warmer, so there was no need to keep the fire going after dinner. Fiora lay curled up with Caliron draped over her legs, sleeping with her swords within reach. ***********************************************************  
Dart awoke sometime later, not knowing why, but feeling a strange energy in the air. Rolling over, he noted that Fiora and Caliron were gone, and got up, stretching. Heading away from the camp, towards the glimmering lights of Donau, the sound of faint music reached his ears -- yet it was not entirely music. It was punctuated by other sounds, vaguely animalistic in nature, but not any that he could ever recall hearing. It got louder as he walked, until, right on top of the sounds, he finally spotted two dark shapes on a pile of boulders nearby. Going over to them, he heard Caliron chirp a greeting, and the music stopped.  
  
"Don't worry, it's just me," he said, sitting down next to the small Dragon.  
  
"I wasn't worried. I just wanted to let whoever it was announce their presence without feeling the need to interrupt me," Fiora replied. From where he was, she was little more than shadows broken up by pale blotches of skin from where he was. She started playing again, and Dart sat and listened for a few moments, trying to figure out why the sounds seemed so familiar. As she played a particularly low flat note, a memory rose to the surface of his mind: Regole, producing that same noise -- only much louder -- right before attacking.  
  
"That's the Dragon's language, isn't it?" he asked. Fiora stopped again.  
  
"Yes. These are Dragon Pipes. Nobody uses them anymore except for me, and Charle, who taught me. They were used by a couple of the friendly Winglies and other Humans besides the Dragoons during the Dragon Campaign, so they could communicate with the Dragons." She leaned forward and held them in a patch of faint light coming from the waxing crescent moon. Made of copper, they were held together with a polished black Dragon ornamentation, and despite being very old, showed no signs of it.  
  
"Albert would probably like to hear about them," Dart said, "considering how he is about anything old and historical."  
  
"Albert will probably want to move to Ulara after I tell him about the library there. He's already hoping we'll have an excuse to go there, since I told you all they have the most complete history of Endiness anywhere," Fiora said. "But enough about that sort of thing. You should go back to sleep, or you'll be worthless tomorrow."  
  
Dart snorted. "Doesn't matter. I just have to be awake enough to get into the town and onto the boat. I can sleep then."  
  
"Yes, but then your internal clock will be all out of whack."  
  
"Oh, all right. I'm not even going to ask you if you're coming back with me. If you're related to Rose, then you probably have that weird ability she had to go without sleep for three days." Standing up, he stretched again and sketched a mock bow to a grinning Fiora. As he headed back to the camp, he heard the pipe music start up again behind him, and went to sleep with it ringing in his ears. *************************************************************  
The next morning, nobody was really inclined to get up when Fiora roused them all, looking fresh and rested, even though Shana and Albert both reported waking up during the night and noticing that she wasn't there. Fiora laughed and promised to explain on the boat, which, by the way, was leaving in half an hour, with or without them. There was a sudden flurry of activity, getting packs together, saddling horses, strapping on armour, etc. When they were finally ready, they set off at a swift canter across the barren plain between the grove of trees and the town of Donau.  
They slowed to a walk once inside the town, but still gathered quite a few inquisitive glances. As they reached the docks, one of the boats blew a whistle in greeting.  
  
"That's ours," Albert said, waving back in response. "The Lady Respite. She's normally just a pleasure ship, but the owner has some business in Furni this weekend, luckily enough."  
  
As they led the horses on board, the Respite's owner met them on the deck. He was a cheerful-looking middle-aged fellow, and helped them get the horses settled before casting off.  
  
"Well, welcome aboard the Respite, friends! M' name's Caradon. We should reach Furni by mid-afternoon tomorrow, if th' weather stays good," he said, winking cheerfully at them before heading to another part of the ship to make sure things were running properly.  
  
The cheery mood on the Respite seemed to be contagious. Even Miranda, who had only been on a boat once and hadn't liked it, couldn't help but be somewhat jovial. She, Meru and Shana leaned on the rail to watch the dolphins that were following the ship, and Caliron did twisting jumps on the deck trying to catch seagulls that were teasing her by flying low overhead.  
  
Fiora was kept busy all afternoon telling the others about the Dragon Pipes and the library in Ulara. Albert listened with rapt attention, and made her go over things several times. They only stopped when Meru, who had been lurking by the galley door for the last hour, announced that it sounded like dinner was almost ready. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Caradon and Shana, who had gone to help, came out laden with plates of food.  
  
"A feast fit for a king!" Caradon said as he checked to make sure the tiller was still locked in place, as it had been all afternoon. Fiora and Albert exchanged a look. It was a feast, but the most informal one any of them had ever been to. They sat in a large circle on the deck in the warm sea air, eating off of each other's plates and joking and telling stories. The information was leaked somehow that Aasrin and Meru were Winglies, but Caradon didn't seem too bothered by it. "No point in fussing over old grudges!" he said, and offered Meru a plate of fish.  
  
They dropped off to sleep soon after they finished eating. Dreams were filled with the noises of wind and water and seabirds, and the only one who awoke at all during the night was Shana, who listened to a bit of the mariner's song Caradon was singing before going back to sleep.  
  
The morning dawned cold and slightly damp and cloudy; so cold that they didn't need to be woken up -- the weather did it for them. They had passed into colder seas overnight, and the fog-shrouded coast of Mille Seseau could be seen to the northwest. The day passed with little change, save for the fog lifting a bit. They were due to reach Furni in a little under an hour when dark clouds appeared to the southeast. The clouds grew steadily closer as the minutes passed, and they were within sight of Furni when the squall blew up.  
  
There wasn't much anyone could do except hold on to something stable. Fiora crawled over to where Caliron was hunkered, claws sunk into the wood, shrieking in panic. Meru's petite frame would have been lifted clear off the boat had Albert and Aasrin not grabbed her in time. Looking up, Dart and Fiora both saw a dark mass ahead of them that was drawing closer very quickly. Blue eyes met blue eyes. There was a loud splintering of wood and a mighty lurch. Fiora blacked out. ***********************************************************  
AuthorÕs notes: All righty, you should expect longer breaks between chapters from now on. IÕve now posted all that I had previously written, and IÕm currently stuck in the middle of chapter 5. Also expect a little more action from now on, as they are now traveling, and still donÕt know what this poem fragment is all about. Thanks a bunch to QQQ and Anjali Elios for reviewing!! 


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